Manchester golf-course deal collapses

According to the publication Golf Digest, the plan by U-T publisher Douglas Manchester and pro golfer Phil Mickelson to buy Fairbanks Ranch Country Club has collapsed.

The facility, which includes tennis courts and a clubhouse, is on lease from the City of San Diego. Manchester and Mickelson, who signed a letter of intent to buy two months ago, "wanted to do a lot of things to the property, which required they go back and request a lease concession with the city," said Jeff Woolson of CBRE Group, the large commercial real estate company. "Members didn't feel like they wanted to go down that road."

The property is owned by the members, who have not wanted to go through the long process of negotiating a new lease. Manchester had hoped to have a link to his Grand Del Mar hotel facility in Carmel Valley. Rumors that the hotel is having problems surface from time to time. Mickelson, who has complained about high California taxes, recently put his Rancho Santa Fe house on the market for around $6 million.